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Problems found with muscle enhancement supps

Athletes often turn to supplements such as creatine and branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) to enhance muscle strength and recovery. These supplements may also benefit people with muscular diseases and those recovering from knee surgery. However, tests by ConsumerLab.com show quality problems with 36 percent of supplements recently selected for review. Three creatine supplements were found to contain unacceptable levels of creatine breakdown compounds, and two of these products provided only tiny amounts of creatine. In addition, the BCAA "blends" in some products were found to consist mainly of compounds other than BCAAs, with only 5 percent to 10 percent of listed amounts being BCAAs.

"It can be very difficult for people to know what they are getting from muscle enhancement supplements," said Tod Cooperman, M.D., ConsumerLab.com president. "It is important to read labels carefully and be skeptical of contents unless verified by a third party," he added.

In addition to a range in quality, the price of products varied widely. The lowest cost to get the equivalent of 5 grams of high-quality creatine monohydrate from a supplement was 9 cents, and for 5 grams of BCAAs it was 31 cents, while the cost was well over $1 to get these same ingredients from some other products.

The report also provides information about the uses, dosage, and potential side effects of creatine and BCAAs and explains differences among forms of these ingredients, such as creatine monohydrate, creatine AKG, dicreatine malate, and KreAlkalyn.